Adding strips and tiles to the Windows Media Center Start menu in Windows Vista

Adding Items to Windows Media Center Menus

Robert McLaws: FunWithCoding.NET - Windows Vista Edition — Sat, 05 Aug 2006 11:48:19 GMT

Aaron Stebner comes through again with a tip on how to add items to MCE's "strips" and "tiles" (the new...

TPN :: The Media Center Show » Blog Archive » The Media Center Show #70 - Home Automation

Thu, 10 Aug 2006 14:48:01 GMT

PingBack from http://mediacenter.thepodcastnetwork.com/2006/08/10/the-media-center-show-70-home-automation/

Using multiple MSIs to add a custom strip and tiles to the Windows Media Center Start menu

Aaron Stebner's WebLog — Mon, 28 Aug 2006 06:07:39 GMT

I have previously posted topics about creating custom strips on the Windows Media Center Start menu in...

How to control the ordering of custom strips in Windows Media Center for Windows Vista

Aaron Stebner's WebLog — Fri, 13 Oct 2006 21:06:48 GMT

I have previously written blog posts describing how to add up to 2 custom strips to the Windows Media

Customizing the Windows Media Center Start menu in Windows Vista

Aaron Stebner's WebLog — Wed, 01 Nov 2006 07:01:42 GMT

This article will serve as a central repository for topics that I have written about Windows Media Center

Mailbag: Can I anchor a custom strip on the Media Center start menu?

Aaron Stebner's WebLog — Mon, 05 Feb 2007 09:13:58 GMT

Question: I would like to add a new strip to the Windows Vista Media Center start menu. I have followed

Tile shortcuts

navjo — Mon, 09 Jul 2007 09:58:10 GMT

Great article! I have created a custom strip called "Favorites" and would like to create "shortcut" tiles to the strip, like recorded TV, My movies, etc.

Is there a way to create shortcut tiles?

re: Adding strips and tiles to the Windows Media Center Start menu in Windows Vista

astebner — Wed, 18 Jul 2007 21:58:36 GMT

Hi Navjo - Creating "shortcut" tiles that link to other strips like you describe is not supported. However, the Media Center start menu is relatively small so it should be easy enough for users to just scroll up and down to get to the other Media Center strips.

re: Adding strips and tiles to the Windows Media Center Start menu in Windows Vista

Eytan — Tue, 23 Oct 2007 23:40:49 GMT

Hi and thanks for the info.

I was wondering if there was an easy way to add a remote control direct link to a new tile?

Exmaple: on the Microsoft remote control - you have buttons that start the Recorded TV, Live TV, Music, Videos and Pictures.

I would like to be able to have buttons for the additional strips so I can start an app without the need to scroll.

I hope this is clear enough.

Thanks,

Eytan

re: Adding strips and tiles to the Windows Media Center Start menu in Windows Vista

astebner — Wed, 24 Oct 2007 00:47:36 GMT

Hi Eytan - I'm not positive if this is a supported scenario or not, and it is not something I've had experience with in the past. I don't see anything about this exact scenario in the Media Center SDK documentation but I might be missing something. I'd suggest posting a question on the Media Center Sandbox discussion forum (http://discuss.mediacentersandbox.com) to see if someone in the Media Center development community can help advise you about this scenario.

DVB-S, Plugins und Vista Media Center? | MH Lounge Blog

DVB-S, Plugins und Vista Media Center? | MH Lounge Blog — Wed, 30 Jan 2008 01:09:49 GMT

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re: Adding strips and tiles to the Windows Media Center Start menu in Windows Vista

sharrisct25 — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 09:38:38 GMT

I got the menu system working but when I try to change the context to launch a different app I get a invalid application message even through I can launch the same app from the program library. Anybody else see this?

re: Adding strips and tiles to the Windows Media Center Start menu in Windows Vista

astebner — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 22:20:15 GMT

Hi Sharrisct25 - I'm not sure what you mean by "context" in your question. What exactly are you changing in your registry and/or in your registration XML files?

Also, please note that the information in this blog post has been enhanced since the time I originally wrote it, and it is now included as a sample with documentation in the Media Center SDK (which can be downloaded from http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=A43EA0B7-B85F-4612-AA08-3BF128C5873E). You can find the sample in the directory C:\Program Files\Microsoft SDKs\Windows Media Center\v5.0\Samples\Register Application after installing the SDK.

There is also a set of forums specifically focused on Media Center development that might be helpful to you as you work on your Media Center application. You can find them at http://discuss.mediacentersandbox.com/forums/default.aspx.

re: Adding strips and tiles to the Windows Media Center Start menu in Windows Vista

sharrisct25 — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 22:30:06 GMT

That should help me get this working. Thank you.